Source

Directions

Mix sourdough, flour and water in a bowl, cover and let ferment overnight preferably at 22-25° C (Petra: Microwave oven with lights on) for about 8-10 hours.

For the hot soaker toast the oatmeal in a pan until golden. Place the flakes in a suitable bowl and add the boiling water (be careful, hot steam!), cover and let rest overnight.

In the morning dissolve the yeast in the water. Pour yeast water into a bowl, add sourdough, hot soaker and salted bread flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Cover and let rest for 30-45 minutes.

Wet your hand and turning the bowl, fold the dough into the middle (see Martin's video). Cover and let rest again for 30-45 minutes. Repeat this twice and finally let rest for 1 hour.

Flour a banneton (suited for 1 kg of dough) and sprinkle with oatmeal.

Turn out the dough onto a floured working surface, spread it a little bit and then fold the sides into the middle in order to get a nice round loaf. Place the loaf seam side down into the banneton, cover and let proof for about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 275° C with a baking stone on the rack in the middle.

Turn out the loaf onto a peel sprinkled with cornmeal and slide the bread into the hot oven, reducing the temperature to 250°C. Pour some water into the oven or spritz the oven with water from a spray bottle. After 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 220°C and bake for another 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200°C. Total baking time 45-50 minutes (Original: 30-35 minutes at 250(-200)°C).

Quelle

Zubereitung

Place raisins in a small bowl and cover with hot tap water. Let sit for 10 minutes while raisins plump, then drain and set aside.

Prepare Brioche dough:

Place warm water and 2 teaspoons of the sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle yeast on top and mix with a whisk until yeast is dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes while yeast blooms.

Add remaining sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, milk, flour, and salt. Using the hook attachment, mix on low speed for 3 minutes to start bringing dough together. Switch to medium speed and slowly drop pieces of butter into dough. Mix for 10 to 12 minutes (Petra: about 18 minutes). Dough will be wet and sticky and will have good elasticity when stretched. Let rest in the bowl for 5 minutes.

Pull dough from bowl onto a floured surface and flatten into a rectangle. Sprinkle plumped raisins over entire surface of dough. Starting with a narrow end, roll dough away from you into a log. Fold ends underneath to form a loosely shaped ball. Place ball in an oiled, medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let proof in a warm room, 70 to 75°F (21-24°C), for approximately 2 1/2 hours (Petra: 3 hours at room temperature, 20°C). Dough will almost double in size.

Place dough on a floured work surface and pat it into a 6 x 2-inch rectangle. Divide dough into 3 equal pieces and roll each piece into a rope approximately 10 inches long. Brush the strands of dough with melted butter, making sure they are thoroughly coated. One at a time, roll the coated strands of dough in the cinnamon mixture. Line the strands up side by side and, starting at either end, braid the pieces. Pinch ends together to form a seal and fold ends underneath.

Lift braid into lined loaf pan. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof in a warm room for I hour, or until loaf rises to fill three-quarters of the pan.

While loaf is proofing, preheat oven to 360°F (180°C)

Remove plastic and place loaf on center rack of preheated oven. Bake for about 45 minutes (Petra: 55 minutes because the loaf pan was a little bit small and the bread rose a lot). Top and sides of loaf will be dark golden brown. The hot loaf will be very fragile, so let cool on wire rack for 20 minutes before removing from the pan. After 20 minutes, lift loaf out of pan and continue cooling on a wire rack. If needed, run a sharp knife around the sides of loaf and invert pan to remove it. (It's important to remove the loaf from the pan before the sugars cool and stick to the sides.)

15. März 2010

Leafing through a new
baking book
I received last week I stopped at some nice looking sugary buns called
Gibassiers. These seemed to pull me into the kitchen...

The original recipe calls for candied orange peel. I didn't have any because the family isn't so much fond of it, so I substituted dried apricots. Anise seeds weren't at hand either, so I used cardamom.

The buns took a lot longer to rise as described in the recipe...

...but finally they did bake nicely. Still warm from the oven they are brushed with butter and rolled in vanilla sugar.

Enjoy!

Doing a little research in my french cook books such as Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azurfrom the series L'inventaire du patrimoine culinaire de la France, I think these buns differ a lot from the original Gibassié from Provence which is a kind of Pompe à l'huile (see thirteen desserts for Christmas), looking a little bit like a fougasse as can be seen here, here or here. Maybe this is an adaption sold in american bakeries as I learned in this blog entry. In the comments there you can also find a second recipe by Ciril Hitz for these sugar-coated so-called Gibassiers.

Writing this entry I saw that the book Baking Bread at Home by the CIA didn't get rave reviews at amazon. Can anybody tell me about good or bad experiences with recipes from this book?

-=========

REZKONV-Recipe - RezkonvSuite v1.4

Title:

Sugar-Coated Apricot Buns (Original: Gibassier)

Categories:

Bread, Rolls, Pastry

Yield:

16 Buns

Ingredients

H

SPONGE

140

grams

Milk, luke warm

1/4

teasp.

Malt sirup

135

grams

Bread flour

1

pack

Instant yeast

H

FINAL DOUGH

Sponge

145

grams

Eggs

80

grams

Olive oil

3

Oranges: grated zest (Original: 21 g)

485

grams

Bread flour

125

grams

Sugar

11

grams

Salt

90

grams

Butter; soft

3/4

teasp.

Ground cardamom (Original: 2 El anise seed)

100

grams

Dried apricots; minced (Original: candied orange

-peel; chopped)

H

GARNISHES

Egg wash

Melted butter

Vanilla sugar

Source

adapted from

Eric W. Kastel

Artisan Breads at Home

The Culinary Institute of America

Edited *RK* 03/15/2010 by

Petra Holzapfel

Directions

TO MAKE THE SPONGE, combine the milk and malt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the flour with the yeast, then add this mixture to the milk. Mix the sponge together by hand for 2 minutes to develop some gluten structure and ensure that all the ingredients are combined into a homogenous mass. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the sponge to ferment in a warm area for 30 minutes, until double in size.

TO MAKE THE FINAL DOUGH, put the sponge, eggs, oil and zest in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix for 1 minute on low speed to break up the sponge. Add the flour, cardamom, sugar and salt. Mix for 6 minutes on low speed, making sure to scrape down and flip the dough over twice during the mixing time. Increase the speed to high and mix for an additional 2 minutes (the dough cleared the walls of the bowl). On medium speed, add the soft butter in flakes. Mix the dough until the butter is fully
incorporated, for about 3 additional minutes. The dough should have developed full gluten structure. Add the apricots and mix on low for 30 seconds to combine. Scrape down and flip the dough over, then mix for an additional 30 seconds. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl large enough for it to double in size and cover with plastic wrap.

ALLOW the dough to rest and ferment in a warm place for 60 minutes (this took about 3 1/2 hours), until when touched lightly the dough springs back halfway (the dough now looked quite fatty-shining).

PLACE the dough on a work surface and divide it into 75-80 g-pieces. Round each piece against the tabletop, then cover the pieces and allow them to rest on the table for 10 minutes.

SHAPE each piece into a 6-inch oblong. Using a sharp blade make 4 widthwise cuts in the center of each piece. Place the pieces of dough on two baking trays lined with parchment paper.

BRUSH the pieces of dough with egg wash and lightly cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest and ferment in a warm place for 45-60 minutes, until when touched lightly the dough springs back halfway. (again this took much longer. I placed one of the trays overnight in the cold cellar. In the morning I let it rise 2 1/4 hours at room temperature before baking).

PREHEAT the oven to 205°C (400°F).

BRUSH each piece again with egg wash, place the tray in the oven, and immediately reduce the temperature to 190°C (375°F). Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the trays and lower the temperature to 175°C (350°F). Bake for an additional 3-5 minutes, until golden brown.

TAKE the bread out of the oven, allow to cool for 5 minutes on racks, then brush each piece with melted butter and roll the top in vanilla sugar. Allow the gibassiers to cool on racks over baking trays.

Note Petra: If you want to freeze the buns, let them cool after baking and put them in plastic sacks into the freezer. Reheat them in the oven (175°C), brush them with butter and roll in vanilla sugar.

Checking my french baking books I think these buns differ from the original Gibassié from Provence which is a kind of "Pompe à l'huile" (see thirteen desserts for Christmas).

01. März 2010

Since both of our daughters spent one highschool year in South America (Brasil and Uruguay) and we received several students from Colombia we have a special relationship with this continent. In 2003 we spent a wonderful 4 week vacation in Brasil.

For this event I decided to make some simple coconut rolls, pãozinhos de coco, adapted from a recipe I found here. I used milk instead of milk powder and water, a little bit more than in the original recipe, and I used less yeast.

The lightly sweet rolls are very soft just as I remembered them from the breakfast in one of our pousadas.

Source

adapted from

Itaiquara

Edited *RK* 03/01/2010 by

Petra Holzapfel

Directions

Mix the dry ingredients in the bowl of the stand mixer.

Dissolve yeast in the milk, add coconut milk. Pour the mixture into the bowl and start kneading on low speed until the dough comes together. Add the butter in flakes. Mix on second speed for 5-8 minutes. The dough will be elastic and clear the walls of the bowl.

Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let ferment for about 75 minutes or until the dough has doubled in volume.

Put the dough onto the working surface (no flour is needed). Divide the dough into 16 parts (50-60 g each). Roll into balls and place them onto a paper-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise for about 60-75 minutes.

Glaze rolls with egg wash and sprinkle with shredded coconut.

Preheat the oven to 180-200°C. Bake until the rolls are golden brown, 18-20 minutes.

What a perfect reason to go to the kitchen and bake a Vanocka, a czech christmas bread.

Whereas traditional recipes often call for 3 layers (a 4 strand, a 3-strand and a twisted one) the recipe of Nadine Nemechek only uses two layers.

The two layers are secured by skewers as the top braid sometimes likes to
slide off to one side. (I could see this on one end of my bread although I had used skewers). I think it would even be better to make a deep depression along the middle of the
finished braid for the top twist as I read in another recipe - unfortunately after I had baked my bread.

Preparing a vanocka wasn't, and isn't, simple and therefore a variety of customs are followed in preparing the dough, braiding and baking it to ensure success. The woman of the house had to mix the dough while wearing a white apron and kerchief, she shouldn't talk, and she was supposed to jump up and down while the dough was rising. ;-)

The slices of the Vanocka - very rich, nutty and not too sweet. Delicious.

Source

Directions

Mix flour, sugar, lemon peel, yeast mixture and remaining milk in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix for about 4 minutes on low speed, adding egg and egg yolks, then the butter cut in pieces. Add the salt. Knead on medium speed for about 8 minutes, adding 1-2 tb flour if needed until dough is smooth and elastic and begins to clear the walls of the bowl. Mix in raisins and nuts.

Place in large oiled bowl; cover with cling foil. Let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

For glaze: In small bowl mix egg, milk and butter. Brush over braid going well into the crevices of the braid. Sprinkle slivered almonds over the bread.

Bake 25 minutes, then brush the pale spots (from the rising of the bread) with glaze, continue baking for 20 minutes, then cover upper strand with aluminum foil, bake additional 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Let cool completely. Complete baking time here was about 1 hour - you might use less or more according to your oven. (Skewer test, an instant read thermometer inserted into the center should read about 180°F, 82°C)

Petra: Rich nutty and not too sweet christmas bread.

*in another recipe I read (unfortunately after baking my bread) I saw these directions: With a French pastry pin or the side of your palm make a deep depression (a sort of ditch) along the middle of the finished braid for the top braid (the top braid sometimes likes to slide off to one side).

For Bread Baking Day I adapted a recipe by the Swedish baker Jan Hedh from his book Artisan Bread.
It's more time-consuming to make the puff-pastry like dough but the
result is excellent - light and buttery crunchy rolls with a lot of
black and white poppy seeds.

The rolls can be frozen and reheated in a hot oven.

Cutting of the rolls: you can either make triangles as seen here or rectangles.

Source

adapted from Jan Hedh

Artisan Bread

Edited *RK* 10/15/2009 by

Petra Holzapfel

Directions

Cool the flour in the fridge for 60 minutes before making the dough.

Dissolve the yeast in the cold milk.

Combine bread flour, yeasted milk, honey and egg in the bowl of a stand-type mixer. Mix on low speed. When the dough comes together add the butter in flakes and the salt. Continue mixing on low speed for about 5 minutes. The dough will clear the sides of the bowl and be elastic.

Shape the dough into a ball and put it into a plastic bag dusted with flour, leave to set for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Soften the butter between two sheets of cling film by beating it with the rolling pin several times and shape into a 15 x 15 cm square. Put it in the fridge until ready to proceed.

Place the dough on the lightly floured work surface. Make an X-shaped incision on top of the dough and roll it out - it should get the form of a cross, the middle being a little bit thicker than the ends (see link).

Place the cold butter in the middle and fold the ends over, the butter has to be completely covered. Pat it into a rectangle.

Wrap the dough in cling film. Leave for 30-40 minutes in the fridge.

Lightly flour the work surface and gently roll out the dough, working from the centre towards the edges, until you have a 45 x 38 cm rectangle, make the corners as square as you can. Make sure you keep your working surface always lightly floured, nothing should stick. Fold the bottom third of the rectangle up toward the centre, carefully aligning the edges. Brush off any flour. Fold the top third down to make a neat square and brush off any flour. You will have a neat square of pastry with the fold on the bottom.

Give the square a quarter turn to the left. For maximum rising it is important that you always rotate the pastry in the same direction so the the seam is always on the same side. The fold should then be at the side.

Roll out the pastry into a 45 x 38 cm rectangle. Wrap in cling film and leave to set for 30-40 minutes in the fridge.

Give the dough again 2 turns (I gave only one). The dough is now ready to use.

Halve the dough (keep the dough you don't work with in the fridge) and roll out in approximately 20 cm wide strips with 3 mm thickness. Brush with eggwash. Fold the bottom third of the strip up toward the centre, carefully aligning the edges. Brush off any flour. Fold the top third down to make a neat strip and brush off any flour. Flip over seam down. Glaze with egg and sprinkle generously with poppy seeds. Cut off 50 g pieces.

Place on a baking tray covered with baking paper and cover with a tea towel. Leave to rise at room temperature for about 60 minutes until doubled in size. Continue with the second half of the dough.

Preheat the oven to 220°C and bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

I made a few changes: using less yeast and letting the dough ferment overnight yields a more aromatic dough.

Don't use too small tomatoes. At first I tried "Coeur de Pigeon" which produced confit tomatoes in the size of a thumbnail. So I made a second batch with cocktail tomatoes - much better.

Other than Grandits I baked the pizzette on a baking stone in a very hot oven.

The taste of the confit tomatoes on these little pizze is fantastic: sweet and incredibly aromatic. The pesto matches very well. It is originally made with cilantro instead of parsley. As I can't get fresh cilantro here I used parsley which is growing in my garden (this change made my son happy because he dislikes cilantro).

-=========

REZKONV-Recipe - RezkonvSuite v1.4

Title:

Tomato-Mascarpone-Pizzette with Goat Cheese-Parsley-Pesto

Categories:

Pizza, Tomato, Pesto, Cheese

Yield:

8 Servings

Ingredients

H

TOPPING

700

grams

Cherry tomatoes or date tomatoes; or more to

-taste*

Powdered sugar

Salt

Pepper

2

tablesp.

Olive oil

200

grams

Mascarpone

100

grams

Freshly grated parmesan

1/2

Orange: grated peel

H

DOUGH

1/2

teasp.

Dry yeast

450

grams

Pizza flour

2

teasp.

Salt

3-4

tablesp.

Olive oil

240

grams

Water

H

PESTO

30

grams

Flat leaf parsley; chopped

1

Garlic clove

1

tablesp.

Roasted pine nuts

50

grams

Creamy goat cheese

1

tablesp.

Grated parmesan

2

tablesp.

Yoghurt

Salt

Pepper

Source

adapted from

Tanja Grandits

Aroma pur

Meine fröhliche Weltküche

Edited *RK* 07/01/2009 by

Petra Holzapfel

Directions

Pizza dough: the evening before make an elastic dough (this can be easily done in a bread baking machine). Put the dough into an oiled freezer bag and place it in the refrigerator overnight.

Confit tomatoes: Preheat oven to 100°C. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, brush it with some olive oil. To peel tomatoes, drop into boiling water for a few seconds. Remove immediately and plunge into cold water. Peel the skin off, halve the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Place them outside up onto the baking sheet. Dust with powdered sugar, salt and pepper and drizzle with the oilve oil. Bake for 2 hours in the oven. Let cool.

For the pesto place salt and garlic into a mortar and pestle. Add parsley, pines nuts, pestle thoroughly (you can also use a mixer). Slowly add the oilve oil, stirring. Add goat cheese, parmesan and stir until combined. Salt and pepper to taste.

One hour before baking take the dough out of the refrigerator.

Mix mascarpone with parmesan and grated orange peel.

Preheat an oven to 250-275°C placing a baking stone on the lowest rack.

Divide the dough into 8 parts, keep covered. Working in batches form little round pizzette, spread with mascarpone-cheese mixture and put the tomatoes on top. Bake in the hot oven for about 5-7 minutes. If the tomatoes get to dark, cover with aluminum foil.

Serve hot with the parsley-goat cheese pesto.

Petra: Grandits uses a dough with more yeast without fermenting overnight. She bakes the pizzette at 180°C for 10 minutes. My recipe looks more like a pizza.

*I used the whole of the confit tomatoes for 4 pizzette. Cocktail tomatoes are fine.

25. Februar 2009

I really like potatoes in bread: they give a nice flavor and the bread stays fresh for a longer time. I already tried quite a lot of recipes using potatoes, so it wasn't that easy to pick an interesting new recipe for the event.

Under the christmas tree I found a new bread baking book featuring rye (Roggen Das Standardwerk). One recipe in this book uses a soaker of dried potato flakes and coarsely ground rye (which I substituted with 5 grain chops) and a small amount of rye sourdough. Of course I had to try this.

I am really very pleased with this recipe: the bread has a nice crisp crust

and an open crumb. The taste is excellent.

As the book is meant for the professional baker, the original recipe yields 20 breads. I cut it down to one-tenth.

Source

Directions

The evening before baking mix water, sourdough and rye flour. Let ferment covered for about 16 hours in a warm place (I use my microwave oven with the door slightly open so that the light is on).

Soaker

Mix 5 grain chops, potato flakes and water and let stand covered for about 15 hours at room temperature (20°C)

The next day combine sourdough, soaker, rye flour, bread flour, water and yeast in the bowl of a stand-type mixer. Mix on low speed for about 4 minutes (Kenwood on 1), then add the salt and mix another 5 minutes on medium speed (Kenwood on 3). The dough will clear the sides of the bowl. Desired dough temperature 28-30°C.

Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let ferment covered for about 40 minutes.

Divide the dough into 2 halves (each about 560 g). Preshape lightly into rounds and let relax covered for about 5 minutes. Then shape into oval loaves, brush the surface with a little bit of water and sprinkle the loaves with potato flakes. Put the loaves upside down into floured bannetons an let rise covered for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven with a baking stone to 250°C.

Transfer the risen loaves seamside down onto a peel.

Score the loaves lengthwise and load them into the oven, spritzing in water twice in the first 5 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 230°C and bake for another 35 minutes. Use aluminum foil if the bread gets too dark.

06. Januar 2009

In these days the Sternsinger (see Star Boys' Singing Procession for Germany) - children dressed as the 3 kings - visit almost every house here, collecting money for charity and writing C+M+B (the abbreviations for "Christus mansionem benedicat", some believe it to be the initials of the three kings' names) above the main door of the home to confer blessings on the occupants for the New Year.

Source

Directions

Make a yeast dough by hand or machine, kneading in the raisins at last.

Let the dough rise in the refrigerator for about 4 hours, then turn it out onto the working surface.

Divide the dough into 6 smaller parts (mine were about 140 g) and one bigger part, roll the dough into balls, placing the almond into one of the balls.

Butter a tart pan (30 cm diameter) or use baking paper. Put the big ball in the middle surrounded by the smaller balls. Cover and let ferment in a cool place until doubled (I used the cool cellar steps which took about 4 hours and 1 hour at room temperature; you can also leave the cake in the fridge overnight).

Preheat the oven at 175°C (350°F).

Brush the cake with an egg yolk mixed with some drops of water or milk.

Bake the cake in the lower third of the oven for about 40-50 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and put it on a rack.

Mix the apricot jam with 1-2 tb of water (it should not be too fluid), warm it up a little bit and pass it through a sieve. Brush the warm cake with the jam and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

16. Oktober 2008

As already in the last two years today Zorra invites us again to bake a bread for World Bread Day. Whereas I baked bread loaves in 2006 and 2007 this year I went for something different.

On one of our last visits to Italy I bought a bag of spicy Taralli al Peperoncino, Chilli Taralli. Taralli, the oval-shaped bread"sticks" originating in the southern Italian region of Puglia, make a very nice snack food with a glass of wine or a cold beer. They may be flavored savory or even sweet.

Back home I used a recipe from Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America for Fennel Taralli, omitted the fennel and added both ground and crushed chiles.

Like bagels Taralli are boiled before they are baked in the oven. Taralli keep very well.

Source

Directions

In a small pitcher, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, stir, and let stand for 5-10 minutes.

Combine the all-purpose flour, durum flour, ground and crushed chiles and salt in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, white wine and yeasted water. Mix the dough together, then knead this incredibly stiff dough until it smooths out a little.

Immediately after mixing, cut the dough in about 60 pieces (each 3/4 oz, 20 g). Place a cup of water next to you to help you roll. Dampen your hands with just a few drops of water and roll a piece of dough into a rope about the thickness of a pen. It should be about 7-8 inches long (18-20 cm). Pinch the ends together hard. Hold the rope ring together at the seal and let it drop into an elongated oval shape. Place it on a tray. The seal should be at the top curve. Continue to roll and shape the rest of the taralli.

Cover the taralli with plastic wrap and let them rest for 2 hours. They will not appear to rise at all.

Preaheat the oven to 400°F (205°C).

Fill a wide pot three-quarters full of water, add some salt, bring it to a boil, and then lower the heat so that the water simmers. Add the olive oil to the simmering water. Line a baking sheet with some tea towels. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.

Boil the taralli in batches small enough to fit comfortably in the pot. They will sink at first then quickly float (if they do not float, let them continue to rest for another hour, then boil them). After they float and puff up a bit, after about a minute of boiling, skim them from the pot and let them drain on the tea towels. Boil the remaining taralli. After each batch has drained, move them to the paper-lined baking sheets.

When you have finished boiling the taralli, bake them until they are golden brown and very dry, about 45 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway into the bake. Let them cool on a rack and store them in a sealed container.

Petra: the dough is really incredibly stiff. If it is to stiff to handle, add a few drops of water.